The Ninth U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a Los Angeles man’s convictions for mailing envelopes
containing threatening letters and white powder to celebrities and politicians
in 2006.

A three-judge panel said
the government did not need to prove that Chad Conrad Castagana intended his
victims to believe that the mixture of laundry soap and cleanser was anthrax in
order to convict him under federal law criminalizing false information and
hoaxes.

The letters threatened
the recipients and expressed hostility to their assumed left-wing political
views. They railed against “demagogues” and indicated that retaliation would be
taken against the recipients for their hand in “poisoning the well.”

Castagana was
apprehended at his home days after mailing the last letter and, after being
read his Miranda rights, detailed to investigators the steps he took to cover
his tracks.

He also admitted that
his goal in including the powder was to get attention for the letters, but
denied that it was “symbolic” or meant to represent anthrax. Instead, he said,
it signified that liberals had become “toxic,” and represented the “toxic”
messages with which the celebrity liberals were polluting the airways.

Castagana was charged
with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1038(a)(1), but he argued that he suffered from
mental disorders that prevented him from forming the intent required to violate
the law.

The statute prohibits
engaging “in any conduct with intent to convey false or misleading information
under circumstances where such information may reasonably be believed and where
such information indicates that an activity has taken, is taking, or will take
place that would constitute a violation of [specified anti-terrorism laws].”

Passed by Congress in
2004, it was part of the Stop Terrorists and Military Hoaxes Act.

Castagana introduced
evidence of a long history of a severe mental condition and an expert testified
that Castagana suffered from Asperger’s disorder along with several other
mental conditions. The expert also described Castagana as having “brain
damage.”

Castagana then proposed
a jury instruction requiring the government to prove that he not only intended
to send false or misleading information, but also intended his targets, as
reasonable persons, to believe the envelopes contained anthrax. U.S. District
Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the Central District of California, who died in
January, declined to give the instruction and a jury found Castagana guilty.

On appeal, Castagana
contended that Cooper erred in denying his request, but Judge William C. Canby
Jr. wrote that she acted correctly.

Rejecting Castagana’s
argument that the statute was ambiguous as to the intent required, Canby said
the language “clearly indicate[s] that Congress intended to apply an objective
standard to the second part of the statute, explicitly distinguished from the
initial portion to which the explicit subjective intent requirement applies.”

Judges Kim McLane
Wardlaw and Consuelo M. Callahan joined Canby in his opinion.